In five years, the proportion of Norwegians who subscribe to at least one movie streaming service has doubled from 41 percent to 77 percent.
/ 16/06/2020 / Willy MartinsenThe Polaris Nordic Digital Music Survey 2020, a major survey of digital music and film consumption in Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland. The survey, which has been conducted four times since 2014, is conducted by YouGov for the three Nordic rights organizations TONO (N), Koda (DK) and Teosto (FIN).
– In 2015, three years after the launch of Netflix in Norway, 41 percent of Norwegians stated that they used movie streaming services. In 2018, the proportion was 66 percent and in 2020 this has increased further to 77 percent. The findings of a control survey conducted after the corona outbreak also indicate that the proportion has increased marginally after the introduction of the corona measures, says Head of Communications at TONO, Willy Martinsen.
TONO is the only company in Norway that licenses public use of the world's repertoire of protected music, and in 2019 was the largest company in the Norwegian music industry with a turnover of NOK 771 million that year. Film streaming services are among the company's most important digital business areas.
Figure: Number who say they subscribe to at least one TV/movie streaming service
(Numbers in parentheses are numbers from 2018, for comparison)
With 77 percent of those surveyed, the proportion of Norwegians who say they subscribe to video streaming services is far higher than in our neighboring countries. In second place is Denmark with 70 percent, ahead of Sweden with 68 percent and Finland with 61 percent. Usage is increasing. At the turn of the year, Norwegians said they watched 3,2 hours per day. In comparison, Finns, Danes and Swedes all spent an average of 2,6 hours per day on the services. The survey shows that time spent has increased in all countries after the corona outbreak.
The proportion of respondents who respond that they subscribe to Netflix, Viaplay and HBO Nordic is increasing both in Norway and in all four Nordic countries. The responses in the Norwegian survey place Netflix at the top, followed by HBO Nordic, TV2 Sumo and Viaplay. A full 57% of Norwegian respondents state that they have a Netflix subscription and that 41 percent of their daily TV viewing is on Netflix.
In line with the enormous growth in the use of movie streaming services, the video on demand market has in just a few years become one of TONO's most important digital business areas.
– The film streaming services pay TONO for the use of music, and we pass the money on to the composers, lyricists and music publishers who have had their music performed in films. We observe that much of the music used in the films Norwegians watch is written by composers and lyricists from other countries, and thus we also have to send the lion's share of our video on demand revenues to rights holders in other countries. It's a shame for Norwegian authors and Norwegian music publishers, says Martinsen.
TONO's calculations show consistently low Norwegian shares in the amount of film content watched on VOD services. Among services that focus exclusively on films and series, Norwegian shares range from 1-2 percent to up to 7-8 percent.
About TONO:
TONO is owned and managed by authors (composers and lyricists) and music publishers, and manages on their behalf the economic copyrights in the music they have created. TONO grants permission for the use of protected music, for example on radio, TV, the internet, concerts and cinemas for a fee, and transfers its financial results each year to the rights holders of music that has been played publicly. TONO has 34,000 members, but also works for approximately three million authors and music publishers from around the world. TONO's social role is twofold, on the one hand collecting and simplifying the licensing of protected music and on the other hand providing music creators with an economic basis for creating new musical works. In 2019, TONO had a turnover of kr 771 millions.
For more information:
Willy Martinsen, communications manager at TONO, mobile 909 65 254. willy.martinsen@tono.no